#  Jessica Whited, Ph.D. 

Harvard Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology

Harvard Medical School

 

 

 



   ![Jessica Whited in 2018](/sites/g/files/omnuum10026/files/styles/hwp_4_5__480x600/public/hsci/files/whited_jessica_hsci_2018.jpg?itok=nysiveeY) 

 



 

 email [jessica\_whited@harvard.edu](mailto:jessica_whited@harvard.edu) 

 laptop\_windows [Whited lab](https://hscrb.harvard.edu/labs/whited-lab/) 

 laptop\_windows [Jessica Whited publications](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Search&db=PubMed&term=Whited+Jessica) 

 

 



 

### Jessica Whited studies limb regeneration in axolotl salamanders, with the ultimate goal of discovering how to regenerate limbs in patients.

The Whited lab develops tools to manipulate gene expression during limb regeneration, and explores signaling events following wound healing that initiate the regenerative process.

Humans and other mammals have extremely limited regenerative capabilities in key parts such as limbs. Nearly two million Americans are currently living with the consequences of having undergone limb amputation due to injury or disease, and this number is expected to rise. No biological therapeutic has been devised to address this problem.

In contrast, axolotl salamanders can replace entire lost limbs throughout life, and these limbs are anatomically similar to human limbs. This amazing feat presents an opportunity to learn about natural cellular reprogramming in animals. While axolotl limb regeneration has been known for centuries, much of the crucial mechanistic detail at the molecular level has remained elusive.

We have developed powerful tools to investigate limb regeneration in axolotls with the hope that understanding how limb regeneration occurs in these animals will provide information critical for designing efforts to stimulate regeneration in humans. A crucial question is how the animals use the blastema, a collection of relatively dedifferentiated cells and stem cells derived from stump tissues, to orchestrate the regeneration of an entire limb. Mammals do not respond to most amputations by creating blastemas, and this difference may underlie their inability to regenerate. In the Whited lab, we aim to understand the molecular mechanisms at work in the axolotl blastema so that we can later understand why mammals cannot regenerate limbs.

The Whited lab is taking several approaches aimed at understanding how blastemas facilitate regeneration. One key question is how blastema cells keep from differentiating. A second key question is how blastema cells keep track of what tissues beget them, and what types of daughter cells they can produce. We are also interested in identifying the tissues that support the essential elements of blastema cells such as their formation and proliferation.

To examine these questions, we are using retroviral infections, transgenesis, and knock-down approaches to analyze the function of genes we have identified in sequencing efforts. We hope that this work will lead to an improved understanding of the basic biology at work in blastemas in these highly-regenerative organisms, providing a framework to approach the roles of these factors in organisms with more restricted natural regenerative abilities.

### Biosketch

Dr. Jessica **Whited** is an Associate Professor in the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology at Harvard University. Her lab is focused on understanding how axolotl salamanders regenerate limbs so that these insights can be used to generate strategies toward developing regenerative therapies for humans. The Whited lab is focused on understanding the initiation responses that enable salamanders to form a blastema, which is a bump-like structure at the injury site where progenitor cells gather to grow a new limb. Their work has uncovered a body-wide activation response to amputation, mediated by the peripheral nervous system, that primes progenitor cells for regeneration.



 

 

 





 

 

- ## Research Interest(s)
    
     [Bioengineering](/research-interests/bioengineering) [Skin Diseases](/research-interests/skin-diseases)
- ## HSCI Status
    
     [Principal Faculty](/executive-committee/principal-faculty)
- ## Affiliation(s)
    
     [Brigham and Women's Hospital](/affiliations/brigham-and-womens-hospital) [Harvard Medical School](/affiliations/harvard-medical-school-department-genetics)
- ## Year
    
     [2018](/year/2018)